Is Race to Blame?

The White House and Senate Democrats are growing increasingly frustrated with the GOP’s obstruction of Loretta Lynch’s confirmation to become America’s next attorney general. Some are calling the record-delay a “travesty” while others blame what they’ve called a destructive confluence of race, gender and political gamesmanship by Senate Republicans.

On Wednesday, Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, blasted Republicans for their treatment of Lynch, likening their handling of her confirmation to Jim Crow segregation. “The fact is there is not substantive reason to stop this nomination,” Durbin said. “Loretta Lynch, the first African-American woman nominated to be attorney general is asked to sit in the back of the bus when it comes to the Senate calendar. That is unfair. It’s unjust. It is beneath the decorum and dignity of the United States Senate.”

“This woman deserves fairness,” Durbin continued. “To think that we would jeopardize her opportunity to serve this nation and to make history is fundamentally unfair.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week he would call a vote on Lynch’s confirmation this week. But in recent days, the Kentucky Republican reversed course and instead said the vote wouldn’t happen until a human trafficking bill is put to bed, which is unlikely given a controversial abortion amendment that was added.